Time to Return
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Part 2 of 3. When Kris travels back for The Dark Knight, she couldn't be happier, especially since she gets to see Bruce Wayne again. But what Kris doesn't plan on is just how many difficult choices she will have to face.
1. Back in Gotham

**And here we go with _The Dark Knight_!**

* * *

It's been nearly a year since I got sent to the world of _Batman Begins_. I knew I was going back eventually, but the wait was killing me. How long was I going to have to wait until I saw all my friends, and more importantly Bruce Wayne, again?

To be honest, I was still confused with what I left Bruce with as far as our friendship went. Every day, I saw that face in my mind that he had when he had kissed Rachel. I couldn't understand why he had looked so confused. Or why he had comforted me when I cried over my father. Or when he told me I was in his nightmare. Or when he had dropped his Batman voice with me…

I was trying not to look too much into it, afraid the fangirl inside of me was making me see things that weren't there and looking too deep into other things, but I was failing.

I had watched _The Dark Knight_ several more times (probably unnecessary times, but who cares?) in order to prepare myself for when I went back…whenever that would be. On my day off from work, I decided to fill myself in again. I was probably taking this a bit too far, but I needed to know every detail for when I found myself back in Gotham. I popped open the DVD case, and saw that there was something wrong. The DVD itself was…well, glowing for lack of a better word. That was the last thing I saw before everything went black.

* * *

Just like before, my eyes shot open and I stumbled forward as I found myself in a familiar penthouse. I looked around me and a wide smile formed on my face that would put the Joker's to shame. I was finally back.

"Miss Jacobson?" I heard. I spun around and saw Alfred standing there with a tray of food ready for Bruce.

"Alfred?" I said happily.

"You've been gone for almost a year."

"I know. It's good to be back. Where's Bruce?"

"He's been spending a lot of time at his new 'lair'. I'd be happy to escort you there. I'm sure Master Wayne will be quite thrilled to see you. He's acted quite differently since the day you disappeared."

Looks like Alfred still shipped the both of us. But what did he mean Bruce was acting differently? What kind of differently?

We hopped into the car and he drove us down to the rail yards where a bunch of shipping containers sat. He took a key and unlocked one of the containers and down we went below the ground to where Bruce had put all his Batman equipment until the Manor got rebuilt.

"Be nice when Wayne Manor's rebuilt. You can swap not sleeping in a penthouse for not sleeping in a mansion," Alfred said as we walked in.

Bruce's back was to us as he attempted to stitch up a cut he had gotten from a dog the night before. That stupid fangirl inside of me popped up. I was mentally freaking out at seeing him again for the first time in months. At least it wasn't as bad as when I first met him…

"Whenever you stitch yourself up, you do make a bloody mess," Alfred remarked as he saw Bruce's attempt at healing his wound.

I went over to him and took the needle. "So why don't I do it instead?"

The look on Bruce's face when he realized just who was with Alfred was priceless. "Kristina?" he exclaimed.

"Oh, come on, has it really been so long that you forgot to call me Kris?"

"Where have you been?"

"It's…really complicated," I laughed. "Believe me." I could only imagine how both men would take it if I attempted to explain just where I had been forced to spend my time since my untimely departure.

I took the needle from him and began to finish his poorly made stitches while Alfred cleaned up the mess he had made on the desk in front of him. Luckily for me, I didn't get queasy at the sight of major injuries like his. "What on earth happened to you?"

"Did you get mauled by a tiger?" Alfred asked.

"It was a dog," Bruce answered.

"Huh?" Alfred and I asked at the same time.

"It was a big dog," he said exasperated. I smiled. I had really missed that good old Bruce humor. "My armor. I'm carrying too much weight. I need to be faster."

"I'm sure Mr. Fox can oblige," Alfred said.

"Oh, how has he been doing in my absence?" I asked.

"He's tried to find a new personal assistant, but none of them have worked out. I think you set the bar too high," Bruce told me.

I laughed lightly. If I was lucky, I could get my old job back. I looked over at Bruce and noticed he looked pretty deep in thought. "What's on your mind?"

"There were more copycats last night. With guns."

"Why don't you hire them and take the weekend off?" Alfred suggested.

Bruce laughed. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to inspire people."

"I know. But things have improved. Look at the new District Attorney."

I finished Bruce's stitches and placed the needle on the tray. Bruce typed some things in on his computer and pulled up some video feed from newscasts or security cameras. I knew he wasn't a Peeping Tom, but it still weirded me out that he could watch someone almost every second of every day.

"I am. Closely. Need to know if he can be trusted."

"Are you interested in his character or his social circle?" Alfred asked.

We looked at one of the cameras that showed Rachel walking into court with none other than Harvey Dent. I felt a small pang of jealousy. In my absence, I had to wonder what had happened with Bruce and Rachel and if I had to start from Square One when it came to…whatever relationship we had at the moment.

"Who Rachel spends her time with is her business," Bruce insisted. I scoffed at that remark but said nothing.

"I trust you don't have me followed on my day off," Alfred said.

"If you ever took one, I might."

Bruce took off his shirt right in front of me to change into some dressier clothes (too bad because he looked pretty hot in that black t-shirt), and I felt my face grow warm. Well, nice to know that wasn't going to change. I grimaced at the sight of a ton of cuts and bruises gracing his white skin.

"Know your limits, Master Wayne."

"Batman has no limits."

"But Bruce Wayne does," I told him.

"Well, can't afford to know them."

"And what's going to happen on the day that you find out?" Alfred asked.

"We all know how much you like to say 'I told you so'."

"On that day, Master Wayne, even I won't want to. Probably."

I smiled. It was really good to be back.

* * *

Bruce gladly welcomed me back to the penthouse since I obviously had nowhere else to stay. To be honest, I think he missed having that company. After all, when he returned to Gotham, I had been in the Manor for the whole beginning of his adventure, and he had probably grown used to another presence in addition to Alfred in the house.

I went with Bruce to Wayne Enterprises because he had a meeting to go to and I wanted to see Mr. Fox and see if I could get my job back. I really didn't want to work anywhere else or under anyone else. I mean, it's Lucius Fox I had been working for.

I waited outside the boardroom while the meeting took place for what seemed like forever. Finally, board members came out of the room and I was free to go in. Mr. Fox was busy talking with Mr. Reese (a man I couldn't stand for the entire film), so he didn't see me.

"How'd it go?" I asked as I saw Bruce looking out the window.

"I'm not sure…I may have dozed off during it…"

I tried not to laugh, but I'd seen the movie a million times and I always laughed as those in the meeting realized that Bruce had his feet propped up on the chair, sleeping. "If they knew what you spend your nights doing, I'm sure they'd understand."

"Kristina Jacobson," Mr. Fox said as he came back into the room. "You are a sight for sore eyes!"

"It's good to see you again, Mr. Fox!"

"I have hired a lot of assistants, but all of them have proven that they only applied to get close to Mr. Wayne and ended up flirting with him so much that they allowed their work to pile up way too high. Currently, the position is empty. If you're interested, I'd love to have you back."

"I'd love to! It was the best job I've ever had!"

"Well, then, welcome back to Wayne Enterprises."

I was thankful that he didn't ask where I had been for the last year. I didn't feel like attempting to convince another person that I couldn't explain what had happened to me.

"Another long night?" he asked Bruce. "This joint venture was your idea, and the consultants love it, but I'm not convinced. L.S.I.'s grown by eight percent annually, like clockwork. His revenue stream must be off the books. Maybe even illegal."

"Okay," Bruce said without hesitation. "Cancel the deal."

"You already knew."

"Just needed a closer look at their books."

"Anything else you can trouble me for?"

"I need a new suit."

"Yeah, three buttons is a little '90s, Mr. Wayne."

I put my hand over my mouth to stifle my giggles. Hearing all these great lines in person made them so much funnier.

"I'm not talking fashion, Mr. Fox, so much as function." Bruce handed him some diagrams of some ideas he had in mind.

"You want to be able to turn your head."

"Sure make backing out of the driveway easier."

"I'll see what I can do." He turned to me. "And I'll see you first thing tomorrow."

"I look forward to it!"


	2. Sidekick

"Kris, I'm going out for dinner tonight, and I was wondering—"

"Let me stop you right there," I interrupted. "Don't you remember the last time I went with you to a fancy dinner? If I recall correctly, you did not do a very good job of keeping me in with a bunch of strangers." I tried to think of what dinner he was referring to, and I almost immediately remembered that he was going out with Natascha, some Russian ballerina. "And I will not be paraded around like one of your little models. I'd rather sit alone watching Nicholas Sparks movies, which I can't stand mind you, than spend a night with those airheads."

"Point taken," Bruce laughed. "It's nice to see that after a year, you still haven't lost your sarcasm."

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. "What can I say?"

"I just thought you might like to see Rachel again. You haven't seen her since you've been back."

"Bruce Wayne, have you been stalking Rachel along with Mr. Dent?"

"I am not stalking Dent, I'm just making sure that he can be trusted. And it was just one of those conversations that happened to come across the feed."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure it was. Alright, fine. I'll go see Rachel, but I'm only staying there for a few minutes. I'm not a huge fan of social gatherings like that ever since the last one."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Of course not!"

That night, I found myself outside the restaurant where Bruce realized what a good person Harvey really is. As for me, I knew exactly what was going to happen to Harvey in the end. Maybe I could just ignore that for now…

I was just eager to get back to the penthouse and watch some more old movies. My heart twinged as I remembered me and Bruce reading the intertitles to _The Phantom of the Opera._ No one had ever done that with me except my dad. It was nice to be able to relive that memory from when he was alive.

Bruce had driven me and Natascha together, and she was even worse than she was in the movie. Since she was the most important part of the ballet, she thought she was also the most important part of the world. She acted like a huge diva, forcing me to sit in the back of the car because the back was too close together for her and she got "claustrophobic". Yeah, right. She just wanted all of Bruce's attention.

"Rachel! Fancy that," Bruce said as he walked up to her. As if he was surprised to see her…

"Yes, Bruce," Rachel said with hidden annoyance in her tone. "Fancy—" She stopped talking as soon as she saw me. "Kris?"

"Hey, Rachel."

Rachel bolted out of her seat and enveloped me into a tight hug. I guess we had bonded a lot more in the last movie than I realized. "Where have you been? I thought you dropped off the face of the earth!"

"It's uh…kinda hard to explain exactly…"

"So you're Kristina Jacobson," Harvey said to me. "Oh, excuse me. Kris. Rachel's talked quite a lot about you."

I smiled at him. Okay, I had to admit that he was a lot more good-looking in person. And he had a really pretty voice. But of course, he was taken, and as far as me and Bruce went, I was still confused on that. "And you're Harvey Dent. It's nice to meet you," I said as I shook his hand. Nice to meet him now anyway. Not so much later.

Rachel sat back down and Bruce introduced his lady friend. "Rachel, Natascha. Natascha, Rachel."

"Natascha," Rachel said. "Are you the prima…"

"Prima ballerina for the Moscow Ballet."

_And a total jerk who thinks she's better than everyone else,_ I added in my mind.

"Wow. Harvey's taking me next week."

"Really? So, you're into ballet?"

"Bruce, this is Harvey Dent."

"The famous Bruce Wayne," Harvey said as he shook Bruce's hand. "Rachel's told me everything about you."

"I certainly hope not," Bruce said. "So, let's put a couple tables together."

"I'm not sure that they'll let us…"

"Oh, they should. I own the place."

Despite the fact that I hated the playboy image Bruce put on, I always really liked that line. He motioned for someone to get another table.

"Well, this seems like the best time for me to bow out," I said to everyone. I couldn't help but notice Natascha look at me almost happily. I'm sure she was glad I was leaving. What a diva.

"You're not eating here?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not exactly cut out for the whole fancy thing. Besides, I've got a TCM movie marathon and a nice dinner Alfred made waiting for me back at the penthouse."

"Oh, you like old movies?" Harvey asked.

"Die-hard fan," I smiled.

"Which one's your favorite?"

"Oh, goodness, how can I pick? Um, I really enjoyed _House on Haunted Hill_. And I've seen the 1932 version of _Tarzan _more than once. But honestly, I really, really like _Singin' in the Rain_ more than anything."

"All amazing films."

"Harvey," Rachel said. "I had no idea you were into that stuff."

"You can never go wrong with Gene Kelly," he answered.

I turned to Rachel. "You, my friend, have picked a winner."

She and Harvey laughed together and I noticed an almost jealous look cross Bruce's face. He'd get over it. I said my good-byes and grabbed a taxi to take me back to the penthouse. Alfred set me up with a really nice meal and I plopped myself in front of the TV. I was very pleased to see that one of my favorite old musicals, _West Side Story, _was on. After that one of the best old horror movies of all time directed by my favorite classic director, Alfred Hitchcock, was scheduled to play. I loved the suspense that came with _Psycho_, even though I had to watch the ending seven times to finally understand it. I would be perfectly happy here for the next few hours. Bruce could spend time with that ditz all he wanted to. She'd be a thing of the past within days.

Once _Psycho_ came on, I had long since finished my meal and I knew that Bruce had to be coming back soon enough.

I got really into the movie, even though I'd seen this more than a few times, and I was just at the very end when the real killer, rather than what Hitchcock had led the audience to believe, was revealed. Just as Lila Crane turned Mrs. Bates around to show us a huge and very scary plot twist, Bruce decided to choose that time to touch my shoulder and say my name. I let out a huge scream and turned to find him laughing.

"Bruce Wayne!" I exclaimed as I bolted from the chair. "I can't believe you did that!"

"I'm sorry!" he said, still laughing. "I guess I didn't have the best timing."

"You can say that again! You couldn't have waited a couple more minutes?"

"I didn't know you were going to react like that!"

I rolled my eyes and laughed with him. "So what'd I miss?" I asked him. As if I didn't already know the majority of what happened.

"Well, Natascha started believing that Harvey was Batman, and later when I went to drop her off at the hotel she's staying at, she tried to flirt with me and because I had to keep up my playboy image, I was forced to flirt back. It was horrible. She was practically plunging her hands into my wallet."

"Your life is so difficult," I said sarcastically.

"I've also decided to throw Harvey a fundraiser. He believes in Batman and I've seen what he can do in a courtroom. It's time for me to start trusting him. Or rather it's time for Batman to start trusting him. What did I miss here?"

"Nothing interesting, except my amazing commentary I provided by yelling at the characters on the screen for doing something that was obviously very stupid. The detective in this movie for one."

"I almost wish I'd been able to see that."

"Yeah, very funny. Well, now that I've had my heart attack for the day, I'm going to crash."

"Good night." He gave me another beautiful smile that carried me on air to the place where I slept.

I had really missed being here.

* * *

"Do you think you can do me a favor?" Bruce asked me the next day.

"Anything to repay you for letting me stay."

"You're still on that?"

"I don't get this kind of hospitality often."

Bruce smiled. "I could use an extra pair of eyes and ears when I'm out at night."

"Wait a minute, are you asking me to help you on your little Batman outings?"

"Exactly. It would be really helpful if I had you in the lair to look up any information I might need and alert me if I don't see anything."

"I can try, but I don't know if I'll actually be any help. What if I make a mistake and you end up getting injured?"

"Well then you'll be able to know immediately that you need to alert Alfred for help."

I took a deep breath. "Fill me in."

"You'll be needing this." He handed me a key ring with a lone key attached to it. "It's for the storage container to the temporary Batcave."

The both of us went down to the rail yards and then to the special storage container. He showed me where everything was and how to use all the computer equipment. I'm kind of a computer nerd, so I didn't have to start completely from the beginning, but this was still new technology that I would have to get used to. He then showed me a headset that connected to the earpiece in his suit so I could listen to everything around him and he would be able to hear me nice and clearly. Bruce left me with the computers to familiarize myself with them.

After all, who am I to deny helping none other than Batman?

That night, after I had spent hours on his computers learning all the tricks and tips I would need to be decent help, Bruce came back down to suit up. He said he was going to the roof of the MCU building for a meeting with Harvey and Gordon. It would be good practice for me to start with.

As soon as he left, I put on my headset and followed his path. There was one computer that had a map on it that showed where Batman was. He had put a tracker on the suit in order for me to find him fast if something serious occurred.

"Harvey's waiting for you on the roof. Gordon's not there yet," I told Bruce. There was no response, but I hadn't really been expecting one.

"You're a hard man to reach," I eventually heard Dent say over to the speaker. There was the sound of a door opening before he continued, "Lau's halfway to Hong Kong. If you'd have asked, I could have taken his passport. I told you to keep me in the loop."

"All that was left in the vaults were marked bills!" I heard Gordon say angrily. "They knew we were coming! As soon as your office got involved—"

"My office?! You're sitting down here with scum like Wuertz and Ramirez, and you're talking…Oh, yeah, Gordon. I almost had your rookie cold on a racketeering beef."

"Don't try to cloud the fact that clearly Maroni's got people in your office, Dent!"

There was a long pause, and I couldn't help but smile as I pictured Batman just standing there listening to those two men argue, before Harvey continued, "We need Lau back, but the Chinese won't extradite a national under any circumstances."

"If I get him to you, can you get him to talk?" Batman asked.

"I'll get him to sing."

"We're going after the mob's life savings," Gordon said. "Things will get ugly."

"I knew the risks when I took this job, lieutenant."

That was the last I heard of the conversation because he had evidently disappeared before their conversation ended.

"Kris, I need you to see if you can track down Lau," Bruce said. "Find out what flight he's on and where's he staying once he gets there."

"You got it." I went on his computers and my fingers flew over the keys as I tried to access the information Bruce wanted. Remember how I said I'm a computer nerd? I've managed to teach myself some pretty sweet skills, which include master hacking. I was able to figure out which plane route Lau was taking and through some quick calls to his company, L.S.I. Holdings, I figured out what his usual routine was on a normal day in little old Hong Kong.

"What did you find?" Bruce asked as he came into the room, cowl off. I forced myself to stop staring, since I still thought he looked hot without the cowl on, and turned back to the computers.

"Lau will arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon. Once there, he's going to spend all his time at L.S.I. Holdings. Literally. All his time. I think he sleeps there."

Not bad for my first "outing".


	3. Hong Kong

The next day, I started work almost right where I left off. It felt great to be back at pretty much the best job I've ever had or will have. I ran a lot of errands for Mr. Fox and he explained that I would also resume sorting through various paperwork for the department of Wayne Enterprises that no longer existed. To be honest, I didn't mind that. It was nice to be able to listen to my music as I worked.

It didn't take Bruce long to show up for a little chat with Mr. Fox.

"Our Chinese friend left town before I could tell him the deal was off," Mr. Fox told Bruce.

"Well, I'm sure that you've always wanted to go to Hong Kong," Bruce said.

"What's wrong with a phone call?"

"I think Mr. Lau deserves a more personal touch."

The three of us got in the elevator and headed down to the place where Lucius kept all his equipment.

As we stepped out, I was still in awe at just how huge this place was. "I have to say, it is so nice that you two aren't keeping me in the dark anymore."

The men laughed and Lucius walked over to where he kept some of his newest designs. "Now, for high altitude jumps, you're going to need oxygen and stabilizers. Well, I must say, compared to your usual requests, jumping out of an airplane is pretty straightforward." Lucius opened a case, revealing the proper machinery he would need for this little adventure of his.

"What about getting back into the plane?" Bruce asked.

"I'd recommend a good travel agent."

"Without it landing."

Mr. Fox smiled. "Now, that's more like it, Mr. Wayne. The CIA had a program back in the '60s for getting their people out of hot spots called Sky Hook. We could look into that."

Bruce nodded in agreement. "Do you have another one of these for Kris?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Who ever said I'm jumping with you?"

"You didn't honestly think I'd be going to Hong Kong without you, did you? If anything, I believe Mr. Fox needs his personal assistant with him."

"So I can't just ride in the plane with him?"

"There will be fewer questions if you don't go with him. Believe me."

"And there won't be any questions for a man and a woman jumping out of a plane in Hong Kong?"

"Not when Bruce Wayne is involved."

I sighed and mumbled, "I better be getting paid good money for this."

I noticed Mr. Fox's smile, and I was willing to bet that he was still shipping us too. He went over to a cabinet and pulled it open to reveal components for Bruce's new Batsuit.

"Hardened Kevlar plates over titanium-dipped tri-weave fibers for flexibility," he explained. "You'll be lighter, faster, more agile."

Bruce picked up one of the gauntlets and examined it. I moved out of the way, fully aware of what was going to happen next. Sure enough, the blades on the gauntlet flung out and sank into the nearby cabinet.

"Perhaps you should read the instructions first," Mr. Fox said.

"Yeah," Bruce murmured.

"Now, there is a trade-off. Separation of the plates makes you more vulnerable to knives and gunfire."

"We wouldn't want to make things too easy, now would we?"

_You say that now_, I thought. _Wait until you get shot at the end of this movie and stabbed in the next. Then come talk to me._

"How will it hold up against dogs?" Bruce asked.

"You talking Rottweilers or Chihuahuas?" Bruce just smiled at him. "Should do fine against cats."

As in Catwoman.

* * *

I later found myself in Bruce's lair as me, Bruce, and Alfred began discussing travel plans for our trip to Hong Kong that I was going on against my will. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd rather go to Hong Kong with Bruce than stay here, but jumping out of the plane to get there was not how I wanted to arrive.

We were currently trying to book a private plane that wouldn't trace back to Bruce in any way. While they did that, I downloaded all the necessary programs onto a laptop Bruce had leant me in order for me to operate and help him while we were in Hong Kong.

"I found one in Arizona," Alfred said, laying out a diagram on the table. "A very nice man said he could it have up and running in a week, and he takes cash. What about the flight crew?"

"South Korean smugglers," Bruce answered. "They run flights into Pyongyang, below radar the whole way. Did you think of an alibi for the both of us?"

Alfred smiled. "Oh, yes."

I couldn't help but smile as I thought of what he had come up with. Rachel was going to kill Bruce.

* * *

I hated my life. That was pretty much the one thing running through my mind as I sat on Bruce's yacht, waiting for our plane.

"You owe me big time," I said to him. I had to admit though that he looked really hot in that unbuttoned white shirt…

"You could use a little adrenaline rush," Bruce laughed. "Let's just say that this is making up for you disappearing for a year."

I rolled my eyes and looked around me. To be honest, I was feeling a little self-conscious. I had never really been ashamed about my body before. I mean, every girl has that moment in her life where she wants to look differently, usually by looking skinnier. I grew out of that stage pretty fast and learned to live with what I had. But as I watched all these ballet girls with flawless bodies (that they were not afraid to show off), I was feeling a bit…out of place. I think Bruce noticed, but he didn't say anything.

My thoughts were interrupted by a plane landing on the water.

"I believe this is your plane, sir!" Alfred called.

"You look tired, Alfred," Bruce said. "You'll be all right without us?"

One of the ballerinas looked at Alfred and motioned to the bottle she was holding.

"If you can tell me the Russian for 'apply your own bloody suntan lotion'," he muttered.

Bruce took his white shirt off and I whipped off my own t-shirt that revealed the multi-colored striped bikini I had on underneath. I had made sure to choose one with thick halter straps and a large bottom piece. String bikinis were a no-go.

Bruce and I went to the side of the vessel and tossed our bags overboard. I noticed his stares out of my peripheral vision.

"If you keep staring at me any longer, I am going to pluck your eyes out," I said without looking at him. I wanted to murder the man so much (not really). I wonder if he did all of this just so he could see me in a bikini…I mean, come on. I can't ride with Mr. Fox in the plane? Too many questions? I'll believe that when I'm dead.

We dove into the water below, then retrieved our bags and got on the plane. To Hong Kong we go.

* * *

Once we arrived in Hong Kong (through an experience of jumping out of a plane which I never, ever want to do again), Bruce got in contact with Fox. He himself had just landed into the country and was on his way to L.S.I. Holdings. Bruce and I headed over ourselves since his personal assistant needed to be there. He took his camera and took a ton of pictures, pretending to be a tourist.

"I swear, Bruce Wayne, if you ever make me do something like that again, I will kill you and then bring you back to life so that I can kill you again," I said firmly on the way there.

"It couldn't have been _that_ bad," he laughed.

"The last time I feared for my life that much was when I got to have the passenger seat on your little joyride in the Tumbler."

"That was something completely different."

"You do realize that Rachel is going to kill you when we get back. She and Harvey had gotten all dressed up for the ballet only to realize that you took all the dancers away."

"I'm sure she'll find it in her to forgive me." He stopped and made me take a selfie with him before he continued, "I could tell that you felt weird on the boat."

So he had noticed. "What are you talking about?"

"Look, just because they're famous ballerinas doesn't make them any better than you."

"It's not that," I muttered. "It's just that…they're all so…beautiful."

"So are you."

I'm pretty sure my heart stopped when he said that. For Bruce Wayne to call a fangirl beautiful is something that would've made me explode had I been alone.

Thankfully, Mr. Fox saw us approaching the building and I didn't have to try to find words at his comment. "How was your flight?" he asked.

"I've chosen to repress the memory," I said.

He laughed warmly and we went into the building while Bruce stayed outside.

"For security purposes, I'm going to have to ask you to check in your mobile," one of the workers told us. Mr. Fox put his phone into the box, while I said that my phone was not on me. Luckily, I had remembered to leave it with Bruce. We were escorted to the roof of the building where a nice little afternoon tea setting greeted us.

"Ah, Mr. Fox!" Lau said as he shook his hand. "Nice to see you again. And who is this?"

"I'm Kristina Jacobson, his personal assistant," I smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you." We all sat down at one of the tables. "I must apologize for leaving Gotham in the middle of our negotiations. This, uh, misunderstanding with the Gotham police force, I couldn't let such a thing threaten my company. A businessman of your stature will understand, and, uh, with you here, now we can continue."

"Well, I do appreciate you bringing me out here in such style, Mr. Lau. But I rea—" He was cut off as his cell phone rang. I smiled, knowing he had tricked the place into keeping his cell phone where it was needed.

"We do not allow cell phones in here," Lau said shortly.

"Sorry. Forgot I had it. Now I really came to tell you that our business deal has to be put on hold. You see, we can't afford to be seen to do business with…whatever it is you're accused of being. I'm sure a businessman of your stature will understand."

Lau stood up, very clearly annoyed that he had been called to this meeting for nothing. "I think, Mr. Fox, a simple phone call might have sufficed."

"Mr. Wayne didn't want you to think he was deliberately wasting your time."

"Just accidentally wasting it."

Mr. Fox laughed. "That's very good, Mr. Lau. Accidentally. Very good."

"It was nice to meet you, sir!" I called as he left. Then I turned to Mr. Fox and muttered, "Yeah, right, I've met potholes that were nicer to meet than that jerk."

He laughed again and we went back downstairs to meet Bruce. The security guard attempted to give Mr. Fox his phone back, but he just pointed out that he already had his. We left the building and walked over to where Bruce was still taking pictures.

"There's a better view from the peak tram," Mr. Fox said.

"How's the view from L.S.I. Holdings?" Bruce asked.

"Restricted. Lau's holed up in there good and tight." He handed him a cell phone.

"What's this?"

"I had R and D work it up. It sends out a high frequency pulse and records the response time for mapping an environment."

"Sonar," Bruce smiled. "Just like a…"

"Submarine, Mr. Wayne," Mr. Fox finished. "Like a submarine."

"Or maybe, you know, a bat," I mumbled.

"And the other device?"

"In place."

Bruce and I began to walk away when Mr. Fox called, "Mr. Wayne? Kris? Good luck."

"Ready?" Bruce asked me as we walked away.

"Let's do this."

What had I gotten myself into? Or more, what had the universe gotten me into? After all, being here was not my decision in the first place.

* * *

Once Bruce was suited up, he went over to L.S.I. Holdings. Meanwhile, I got on the plane we would be riding back on once he grabbed Lau. I put on my headset, pulled open the programs on my laptop, and got started.

I started up the sonar on Mr. Fox's phone and the power went nuts in the building.

"Alright," I said to Bruce through the headset. "L.S.I.'s gone dark."

I listened closely and could just make out the sound of his cape blowing open. I could only imagine what it was like to fly over the whole city like that. But after jumping out of that plane, I was not too keen on being up that high in the air again.

There was the sound of glass shattering and I knew he had gotten into the building. The plane I was on cleared the runway and began to move. I kept listening to the sounds of fighting and gunshots on the other end. When the plane lifted into the air, I heard Lau screaming and knew that Batman had gotten him.

I motioned for the workers around me to get ready.

"Where are you?" the all-too-familiar voice rasped on the other end.

"We're just about to fly over the building in a matter of seconds."

"Get ready."

I nodded, and the workers around me opened the hatch on the back of the plane. I saw a small blinking light and pointed it out. "There's his signal."

Batman's tool stuck to the plane and the workers let out the ramp to the hatch allowing Batman and Lau to get into the plane.

"Welcome back, Mr. Lau," I said as I took off my headset. I was getting pretty good at this thing.


	4. Harvey's Fundraiser

**Well, I'm currently battling a cold, but that's why I finish all my stories before I begin uploading them! So you lovely readers don't have to wait forever for the next chapter :)**

* * *

Bruce and I followed the news that revealed that because we had brought Lau back to Gotham, Harvey was able to put away 549 criminals all at once. The power and knowledge that man harnessed was incredible. And to find out that he liked old classic movies really made my respect for him increase. Too bad he was going to go nuts by the end of the film.

When it was finally time for Harvey's fundraiser, I was feeling a bit antsy as I helped Alfred with some of the arrangements. I mean tonight would be the night that I saw the Joker in person. It was a scary thought.

"How's it going?" Bruce asked coming down the stairs. He was buttoning up the sleeves on his shirt and he looked really, really good-looking. Did he ever not look good-looking? I was the luckiest woman in the world…

"I think your fundraiser will be a great success, sir," Alfred answered.

"And why do you think I wanted to hold a party for Harvey Dent?"

"I assumed it was your usual reason for socializing beyond myself, Miss Jacobson, and the scum of Gotham's underbelly: to try to impress Miss Dawes."

"Very droll, but very wrong. Actually it's Dent. You see—"

"Bruce," I interrupted, pointing to the TV. There was the newscast that gave me jitters. He picked up the remote and un-muted it.

"Police released video footage found concealed on the body," the anchor announced. "Sensitive viewers be aware. The image is disturbing."

The scene changed to a terribly filmed video by none other than the Joker. The poor man who had just been trying to help Batman was tied to a chair, practically shaking with fear.

"Tell them your name," the Joker said.

"Brian…Douglas," the man answered shakily.

"And are you the real Batman?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"No? Then why do you dress up like him?" the Joker laughed as he removed Brian's makeshift Bat-mask. I remember always laughing at the Joker's weird laugh as he waved the mask in front of the camera. That was when it wasn't real.

"Because he's a symbol that we don't have to be afraid of scum like you."

"Yeah, you do, Brian. You really do." Brian began whimpering, and I felt so bad for him. The Joker rubbed his hand over his face and began shushing him. "So you think Batman's made Gotham a better place?" Brian nodded, but refused to look at the terrifying person he was alone with. "Look at me." Brian still didn't look at him. "LOOK AT ME!" the Joker growled suddenly, which made me flinch. Brian finally looked up at him, fear etched all across his face. The Joker turned the camera around for the world to see his face. "You see, this is how crazy Batman's made Gotham! You want order in Gotham? Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he doesn't, people will die. Starting tonight. I'm a man of my word."

He began laughing manically as the tape went crazy and Brian's screaming continued in the background. I turned away from the screen, unable to see anymore, even though I had seen that scene a million times. I had just forgotten how much more terrifying everything was when it was not just on my TV screen.

* * *

I had bought myself a nice navy blue slimming ball gown that reached just past my feet. My hair was done in a half-up half-down kind of thing with a bit of glitter strewn throughout it.

I watched Rachel and Harvey come through the elevator. "Rachel!" I called.

She noticed me and hugged me. "You look beautiful," she smiled.

"Thank you. You look very nice yourself!" Rachel noticed someone she must've worked with and left to go talk to him. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Dent," I said to the obviously very nervous man.

"Please, call me Harvey."

"You look a little nervous."

"I've never been one for these kinds of things."

"I totally understand. I'm not either. See, I went with Bruce to a business dinner once with total strangers because he said he needed someone to keep him company. Well, he left with his models five minutes in. Ever since then, I've stayed away from fancy arrangements."

"So that's why you didn't stay at the restaurant and watched classic movies instead?"

"You got it."

"What did you end up watching?"

"_West Side Story _and _Psycho_."

"Ah, Alfred Hitchcock, what a strange man. But he made some unbelievable films. _Rear Window_ is probably my favorite out of all of them. _The Birds _is a close second."

"You are my new best friend," I laughed. "Anyone who can appreciate the classics, especially those by Alfred Hitchcock, is a friend of mine!" I noticed he was still looking around him nervously. I gave him a reassuring smile. "Trust me, you'll be fine. Bruce may embarrass you a little at first, but I know him, and he really believes in you and what you can do for this city."

"A little liquid courage, Mr. Dent?" Alfred smiled as he came up to us with drinks on a tray.

"Thank you," Harvey said, taking one of the glasses. I refrained from drinking any. With my luck, I'd drink too much and end up getting killed by the Joker for being stupid while completely intoxicated. "Alfred, right?"

"That's right, sir."

"Rachel talks about you all the time. You've known her her whole life?"

"Not yet, sir."

My smile disappeared. Maybe not yet, but the time would be coming very soon, and neither Harvey nor Bruce would take it well.

"Any psychotic ex-boyfriends I should be aware of?" Harvey continued, oblivious to my discomfort.

"Oh, you have no idea." Alfred winked at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

Suddenly, there was the roar of a helicopter and one landed on the roof for all to see. Bruce climbed out with three gorgeous supermodels. I rolled my eyes. There was that stupid playboy image he had to have for the public. Regardless, he was so hot in a suit. If I had my way, I'd make him wear suits or black t-shirts all the time.

"I'm sorry that I'm late!" he announced as he stepped into the building. "I'm glad to see that you all got started without me! Now, where is Harvey? Harvey Dent, the man of the hour." Harvey smiled uncomfortably. I smiled to myself. It was so cute when men were shy. "Where's Rachel Dawes?" He motioned for Rachel to step forward. I don't think she was too happy about being put on the spot like that. "She is my oldest friend. Come here. You know, when Rachel first told me that she was dating Harvey Dent, I had one thing to say. "'The guy from those awful campaign commercials?' 'I Believe in Harvey Dent'? Yeah, nice slogan, Harvey." I giggled quietly as I saw Harvey shift his stance uncomfortably. Rachel looked ready to maim the man. "But it caught Rachel's attention. And then I started paying attention to Harvey, and all he's been doing as our new D.A., and you know what? I believe in Harvey Dent. I believe that on his watch, Gotham can feel a little safer, a little more optimistic. Look at this face. This is the face of Gotham's bright future. To Harvey Dent. Let's hear it for him."

Everyone began clapping for him. Bruce eventually went out onto the balcony and Rachel followed. I laughed, remembering that she began to chew him out about what he said…even though it had all been true.

* * *

_"__Harvey may not know you well enough to understand when you're making fun of him, but I do," Rachel said angrily as she came out with Bruce on the balcony._

_"__No, I meant every word," Bruce insisted. He moved closer to her. "You know that day that you once told me about when Gotham would no longer need Batman? It's coming."_

_"__Bruce. You can't ask me to wait for that."_

_"__It's happening now. Harvey is that hero. He locked up half of the city's criminals, and he did it without wearing a mask. Gotham needs a hero with a face."_

_"__No, Bruce, listen. I can see things that you're not seeing for yourself. And one of those things is how you look at Kris."_

_"__What do you mean?"_

_"__When she disappeared, I noticed a change in you. You seemed more weighed down. Then when she came back, you were so much…happier. I haven't seen you look at me the way you look at her since that day you first saw me at the restaurant when you had returned. You keep telling yourself you have feelings for me, but I think you're just suppressing what you feel for her."_

_Bruce tried to find words, but none came to him. _

_"__You can throw a party, Wayne, I'll give you that," Harvey said as he came out onto the balcony. "Thanks again. You mind if I borrow Rachel?" He nodded and was left alone with his thoughts. Kris then joined him on the balcony. He looked over at her. She really was beautiful. He had really missed her. Maybe Rachel was right._

* * *

Once Harvey and Rachel left, I walked out onto the balcony with Bruce. He looked a little out of sorts, but I chose to ignore it. "Um, your models are looking for you," I told him. "I think they're a bit jealous of me."

"What makes you say that?" he laughed.

"Because one of them asked me what made me think I was good enough to steal Bruce Wayne from her. And then she proceeded to call me an ugly and worthless human being and to leave you alone."

I noticed his face change and he seemed almost…angry that someone was insulting me. "What did you tell her?"

"Well, my dad always said to me that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I then chose to ignore that advice and told her to leave her pretty, brainless, arrogant head out of my business."

He laughed again and I noticed that he was staring at me almost like he was…studying me, if that was the right word.

"You know that she's wrong, don't you?"

"Yeah," I answered. The tone of my voice betrayed me and he knew I was lying. The truth was that the model's words had hurt me. I was already feeling a bit vulnerable after the whole yacht thing, and when those words left her lips, they just added to the vulnerability I had allowed to build up. I felt ridiculous. For my entire time as a teenager, I had felt weird about myself probably one or two times, unlike most girls who obsess over their bodies way too much for years. I wasn't supposed to be feeling this way after I had long since passed my teens.

Bruce took my hand in his and I felt a wave of goosebumps sweep over me. "You're not ugly, and you're certainly not worthless. And don't ever let someone tell you any different."

I gave him a small smile, praying that I wasn't blushing too hard. I looked over the balcony and saw a lot of cars pull up. "Bruce," I whispered. He followed my gaze and I felt my heart rate speed up to a pace that not even Bruce got it up to. There was the Joker and his henchman walking into the building.

"Stay here," Bruce ordered. He quickly left and I knew he was going to go hide Harvey and protect him from the Joker. Unfortunately, in the end, I knew his true fate.

I went back to the party to see so many happy guests, completely unaware how much fear they were about to experience in five…four…three…two…one.

The elevator dinged, and I heard, "We made it!" The Joker and his clown-masked henchmen stepped into the room and everyone silenced in a matter of seconds. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" the Joker said. "We are tonight's entertainment!"

Now, it's no secret to Batman fans that the best villain in the Dark Knight Trilogy is the Joker. And I of course agree, not to mention that I've had a crush on Heath Ledger ever since I saw him in _10 Things I Hate About You_. But to see the crazed psychopath five feet in front of me gave me a whole new definition of him. I was scared to death.

"I only have one question. Where is Harvey Dent?"

No one dared answer the man. He took one woman's champagne glass, emptied it, then drank from it. I never fully understood why he did that.

"You know where Harvey is?" he asked as he went around the room. "You know who he is? Do you know where I can find Harvey? I need to talk to him about something. Just something little, huh? No." He got to one older man. "You know, I'll settle for his loved ones."

"We're not intimidated by thugs," the man said to him.

The Joker looked at him for a few seconds. "You know, you remind me of my father." He grabbed his head forcefully. "I hated my father."

"Okay, stop!" Rachel called out, stepping forward.

The Joker turned to look at her. "Well, hello, beautiful. You must be Harvey's squeeze. Hmm? And you are beautiful." He began circling her like a vulture. Now time for one of his infamous scar stories. I had this whole thing memorized and probably would've mouthed along if that wouldn't lead people to believe I was working with him. "Oh, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You wanna know how I got them? Come here." He roughly took her head in his hands with the knife way too close to her face for anyone's liking. "Hey. Look at me. I had a wife, beautiful like you, who tells me I worry too much. Who tells me I oughta smile more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks. One day they carve her face, and we have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again. Hmm? I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So I stick a razor in my mouth and do this to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me. She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!"

Rachel slugged him in a not very nice place and he laughed as he stumbled back.

"You've got a little fight in you. I like that."

"Then you're going to love me."

Despite everything, I could not help but smile at one of my favorite lines. Batman appeared and began beating up all of the Joker's henchmen. The Joker threw his last henchman at him and he managed to hold Batman down. A knife came out of the Joker's shoe and nailed him in the stomach. When he came at him again, Batman managed to get out of the henchman's grasp and knock the Joker onto the ground.

He came straight for me. "Your Brucey's girlfriend, aren't you?" he said as he grabbed me. This was not right. He was supposed to grab Rachel! Holy crap, did that mean that I was going out the….?

"Kris!" Rachel screamed as the Joker wrapped his arm around my neck and held a gun in his other hand.

Batman looked at me, and even though I could barely see his eyes, I was able to notice them widen significantly. "Drop the gun," he ordered.

"Oh, sure. You just take off your little mask and show us all who you really are. Hmm?"

I screamed to him through my eyes to not do so. It wasn't worth it. I wasn't meant to be here anyway.

The sound of a gunshot and breaking glass rang out behind me. The Joker took me and held me out the window. The only thing between me and the street below was the Joker's hand on mine.

"Let her go," Batman growled.

The Joker laughed. "Very poor choice of words!"

And he let go. I started sliding down the roof and would end up falling a million stories to the pavement. I began screaming as Batman jumped out the window and came after me. I fell off the roof and we fell for a while before Batman managed to grab me in midair, making my stomach lurch. He made his cape blow out and we landed right on top of a cab, breaking it. How I had no broken bones, I'll never know.

"Are you alright?" he asked me softly, dropping his Batman voice again. He hadn't dropped it with Rachel…

"'Let her go'?" I said in disbelief. "You couldn't have said something else like 'Bring her back into the room'?"

"I saved you, didn't I?"

"After I said I never wanted to do anything like that again after the whole plane thing. Being your acquaintance should come with a warning label."


	5. At Last

Bruce, Alfred, and I were all in the lair with the Joker's video on most of the screens. It was hard to watch it keep replaying. Neither Bruce nor I had mentioned what had happened between us that night on the balcony. I noticed that he was starting to act a bit different around me, but I couldn't think of how to put it into words.

"Targeting me won't get their money back," Bruce said. "I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed a line."

"You crossed the line first. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand."

"Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. We just need to figure out what he's after."

"With respect, Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man you don't fully understand either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anyone who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away."

"So why steal them?"

"Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

There was another one of those over-quoted lines. Bruce remained silent as Alfred went back to the monitors.

"Bruce," I said softly. "This guy is…not going to be predictable. He just wants to cause chaos. I do know one thing. Why do you think he wanted you to take off your mask?"

Bruce shrugged his shoulders.

"Because he wants to get rid of this city's hope. Ever since you became Batman, crime decreased dramatically. You take away the fact that you're a symbol, and you're really just an ordinary man, it's going to be harder for people to believe in you, and therefore, criminals will be less intimidated and crime will start back up. I know you think that Harvey has a handle on this, but if it wasn't for Batman getting Lau back to the city, he never would've been able to lock up those criminals. This city needs that hope that you give them."

I'm honestly not sure where all that came from. I hadn't planned on that being so…eloquent! Score one for me.

* * *

Bruce and I had to attend a business dinner a couple nights later as employees of Wayne Enterprises. Yes, I did not relent at all with Bruce about what had happened at the last dinner. I donned a different purple dress from the last time and did my hair in loose ringlets. Bruce of course showed up with a couple models and I just hoped that they didn't insult me like the last bunch.

We began eating, and I felt pretty uncomfortable. I just didn't want to be here with a bunch of overdressed people trying to gain Bruce's approval.

"Kristina," one woman said to me. "I remember you worked at Wayne Enterprises last year. What happened? Did you try another job and then realized it wasn't as good as the first?"

I laughed shyly. "No, it was nothing like that. I…had another calling and was forced to take a break."

"Well, I'm sure all of us are dying to know, how do you feel about the Batman?"

Seriously? Why is it that I kept getting asked about Batman while Bruce was in the same vicinity? It just made everything awkward. "I definitely believe he's helping this city. And I think he's doing everything he can to get this guy calling himself the Joker. But I am worried that he's going to end up going too far." I noticed Bruce look at me suddenly, but I tried to ignore that and keep talking. "The Joker has a knack for really hurting people. I know Batman doesn't want to kill anyone, but I'm afraid the Joker will break him. I'm sure the man behind the mask has been through a lot in order for him to start all this, so I just hope that it plays out okay."

I looked over at Bruce and saw a kind of…hardness forming in his eyes. Oh, crap. Had I completely just botched up everything by what I said about him?

"Well, maybe," he began, "the Batman is just as loony as the Joker and the two of them are working together. Both of the guys clearly have a ton of issues to work through. But who are we to talk about people we don't even know or haven't seen for a very long time?"

I was positive that last part was directed at me. Bruce suddenly stood up and left the table, mumbling about getting some air.

I turned to those at the table. "Excuse me," I said, standing up from my seat. I then went outside the restaurant where I was met with pouring rain. Bruce was walking down the sidewalk, soaked by the falling water. He looked really hot when he was wet…

"Bruce!" I called after him, going out into the rain myself. I very quickly got utterly drenched and my hair began sticking to my face. "What the heck was that?"

"Kris, you were gone for a year!" he said loudly. I always thought he was really scary when he yelled, but I held my ground. "You don't get to talk about and judge things that you haven't been around for!" Where the heck was all this coming from? "You haven't even told me where you were for all that time!"

"I told you…it's just…hard to explain," I stuttered.

"How could you just up and disappear without telling anyone at all?!"

"Because it wasn't my choice!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "I had no say in the matter! If I did, I would've stayed in a heartbeat! Bruce, I have wanted nothing more this past year than to be back here with Rachel and Alfred and Lucius…and you." I watched his face soften as he listened to me. I was just so sick of not being able to tell anyone my situation when I knew they were all extremely curious and I knew they deserved some kind of explanation. It hurt me to have to hide who I was. "I've just wanted to come back to you," I said softly.

I'm not sure who made the first movement. It could've been him, or it could've been me. I have no idea. All I know is that we ran to each other and when our bodies crashed together, so did our lips. We stood out there kissing in the middle of the falling rain. I felt his hands intertwine into my wet hair as my lips danced over his. When we parted, his hand remained placed on my head as his thumb traced my jawline. I looked up at him and saw something in his eyes that I had never seen from anyone in my entire life. He smiled at me and then kissed me again even more passionately than before. It was my first kiss.

* * *

**I know a lot of you have been waiting for that moment ;)  
**


	6. Funeral Procession

To experience a kiss with Bruce Wayne, a person I'd fangirled over for years, was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was just incredible to realize that he had actual feelings for me. Plus, we had been kissing in the rain which added hotness points in my book.

Mr. Fox asked me why I was extremely chipper at work, and I ended up telling him about me and Bruce's kiss. I could tell that he was just as excited as I was. I knew he had been shipping us. The same went for Alfred. Perhaps even Rachel. Yes, I did tell them. How could I not?

That night in the lair, Bruce suited up while I went over to the computers. As I pulled up the necessary programs, I suddenly felt two arms snake around my waist and two soft lips on my cheek. "I'm heading out now," Bruce's voice said quietly, his breath tickling my ear.

"I'll be here to help," I smiled. I turned my head and gave him a soft kiss before he put his cowl on and took off.

I forced myself it pull it together and put on my headset. After all, I could not allow myself to get distracted when he needed me.

I followed him on the tracker for a little while before I heard, "Check the names."

There was a pause before Gordon's voice said, "Richard Dent. Patrick Harvey"

"Harvey Dent," a female voice said. Ah, yes, Ramirez. One of the most annoying women on the force and the reason some very bad stuff was going to go down in a few days.

"I need ten minutes with the scene before your men contaminate it," Batman told Gordon.

"Us contaminate it?" Ramirez asked in disbelief. "It's because of you these guys are dead—"

"Detective!" Gordon shouted. There was more silence before I heard him say, "That's brick underneath. You're gonna take ballistics off a shattered bullet?"

"No. Fingerprints."

I could just barely make out the sound of his tools carving the brick out of the wall.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast," Gordon said. "Because we found his next target. He's put it in tomorrow's paper."

I didn't have to see to be able to know that it was the Mayor's picture in the newspaper with Joker paint on it.

* * *

I was returning to Mr. Fox's desk after grabbing him a coffee and a couple of files he needed when I waltzed in on the meeting between him and Reese. I probably shouldn't have stayed to listen, but there was no way I was missing this guy get put in his place, especially when I never liked him to begin with.

"Good morning, Mr. Reese!" I said with cheeriness in my voice. I was acting. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said shortly.

"He's discussing some irregularities with the L.S.I. Holdings deal, is that right?" Mr. Fox said.

"Yes," he answered. I hugged the file I was holding close to my chest.

"Well, their CEO is in police custody."

"No, not with their numbers. With yours. Applied Sciences. Whole division of Wayne Enterprises just disappeared overnight. I went down to the archives and I started pulling some old files." He pulled out some blueprints and placed them on the desk in front of him. They were clearly for the Tumbler. "Don't tell me you didn't recognize your baby out there pancaking cop cars on the evening news. Now you got the entire R and D department burning through cash, claiming it's related to cell phones for the army? What are you building for him now? A rocket ship? I want ten million dollars a year. For the rest of my life."

I really hated him. It's people like him who made me realize just why Bruce kept this thing a secret from everyone he possibly could. Every now and again some jerk could waltz up and demand for money to keep quiet. Just saying, isn't that completely unprofessional? Why did money have to be so extremely important to people? Haven't they ever heard that money can't buy happiness?

I looked to Mr. Fox for his answer.

"Let me get this straight," he said as he leaned onto his desk. "You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person?"

I fought back the urge to laugh as I watched Reese's face turn red and he lost his smile as he realized how crazy it sounded out loud. What made it funnier is that it was all true.

"Good luck."

"Well, you…you keep that," Reese stuttered as he stood up and walked away.

Once he was out of earshot, Mr. Fox and I took one look at each other and burst out laughing.

"You handled that well," I giggled.

"We have to be prepared for anything. It might've helped that I took an Improv class or two in college."

"_You_ took an Improv class? I would've loved to have seen that."

Less than an hour later, Bruce showed up in Mr. Fox's office. He smiled at me and I looked away to hide the fact that I was blushing pretty hard.

"Kris, can you watch the office?" Mr. Fox asked me. "We need to take care of a couple things."

"Don't worry," Bruce said. "I'll make sure to fill you in later." Like he needed to fill me in. If anything, it was me who needed to fill him in.

I smiled. "Of course. It's what assistants do. Go on ahead."

He later explained to me how he had managed to get a fingerprint from the shattered bullet. Not that he needed to explain.

The next day was Commissioner Loeb's funeral procession, and I knew that from there, everything was going to go south very, very fast.

I was at work putting away some files when my phone buzzed. "Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"Kris, this is important. I need you with me when I go to this procession. I've packed your laptop and headset in your bag already. Get connected as soon as you can. I have my earpiece in right now."

He hung up before I could say anything. I quickly ran to Mr. Fox's desk. "Sir, can I have a break, um, downstairs? It's urgent." By the look on my face, I knew that he knew exactly what I was getting at.

"Of course." He opened the bookcase and I grabbed my workbag and went down to where he kept all the Batgear.

As fast as I could, I pulled up the programs on my laptop and put on my headset. "Bruce, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I heard his voice. "Listen, everything on my computer here in the lair will automatically come across to your laptop. I've run the print I got through all the databases and came up with four possibles. I need you to cross-reference the addresses. Look for Parkside, overlooking the parade."

The prints came across my screen and I immediately began going as fast as possible, but my fingers were being stupid as I typed because I was under a lot of pressure. Wasn't Alfred supposed to be doing this? "Okay, I've got one! Melvin White, 1502 Randolph Apartments. Aggravated assault, moved to Arkham twice."

"Thanks, Kris. Keep watch on the procession. See if you can see anything."

I never really thought I'd be able to put my hacker skills to good use, but here I was. I managed to get into the street security cameras and was able to see the procession from a ton of different angles. That would also be good for when I needed to warn Bruce about something because I knew what was going to happen just not exactly when. Movie time and real life time were completely different. I mean, five months pass in an hour in _The Dark Knight Rises_.

I shook my head and focused on the task at hand. I could hear Bruce's motorcycle through my headset and smiled. He looked really hot in the outfit he wore to ride that…

"Okay, I'm at the apartments now. Anything on your end?"

"I'm watching the Mayor address the crowd. Nothing so far."

There was a bit of silence before I heard a man ask with a terrified voice, "Who's that?" Bruce must've found the poor men tied up in the apartment. Those poor guys had to be scared to death.

"What happened?" Bruce asked in a deep voice.

"They took our guns…and our uniforms!" the man answered, his voice shaking violently.

"Oh, no," I whispered. "Bruce?"

There was no reply. I tried to rack my brain to think about what he was doing. You'd think after seeing the movie so many times, I could've done it in my sleep, but when I'm actually living it, it's a whole different story.

I looked on the laptop and some officers were raising their guns, preparing to salute. They fired their guns off once. That's when it hit me like a truck.

"Bruce, get away from the wind—"

I was cut off by the sound of gunfire. I watched the screen in horror as Gordon pushed the mayor down and allegedly got shot and the crowd scattered in a panic.

"Bruce! Bruce, are you okay?" I asked over the headset.

"I'm fine, Kris, I'm fine. It was all part of the Joker's plan. I'm heading back to the lair to suit up. Do you think you can meet me there?"

"I'll let you know." I closed the laptop and took off my headset and booked it back upstairs. "Mr. Fox," I said as I approached his desk. "Something's happened and Bruce really needs me," I started babbling. "I know I've been a terrible assistant lately because I quit before disappearing for a year and then you rehire me and I'm always going about trying to do things for Bruce when I should be focusing on my job here and—"

"Kris," he cut me off. "It's fine. You're free to go for today."

"Oh, thank you so much. I promise, I'll make it up to you when I come back!" I quickly grabbed all my things and went as fast as I could to the lair.

As soon as I walked into the lair, I ran up to Bruce and hugged him tightly. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

He nodded, but I knew he was frustrated with himself about letting the Joker get away. "I'm going to see Maroni, see if I can get him to talk," he said as he put on his cowl.

I went over to the computers and put on my headset. Once again, I tried to think of what came next. These next three nights were going to be eventful in all the wrong ways…

Tonight, he was going to go to Gordon's house, then see and injure Maroni, then find Harvey. Oh, shoot, Harvey! He had taken that guy from the procession. What was that guy's name? Thomas something. Schiff! Thomas Schiff! I hacked into Arkham's records and pulled up his file. Then I ran Harvey's face against some facial recognition software and ran it across the cameras in Gotham. I knew exactly what he was doing, but I had no idea precisely where he was and I needed to get that information to relay to Bruce.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Barbara screaming, "Are you out there? Are you? You brought this craziness on us! You did! You brought this on us!"

"Don't listen to her," I told him. "When tragedy hits, we always look for someone to blame. But Gordon knew the risks when he joined the force and so did she." Not to mention that he was actually alive, but unfortunately, I could not tell anyone that bit.

There was no response. After a while, I heard club music and knew that he was about to get to Maroni. I could hear the sounds of punches and blows landing. It had always been really cool to watch Batman fight under strobe lights. Only being able to hear things was a real bummer.

"I want the Joker," I heard him rasp once the club music has faded.

"From one professional to another, if you're trying to scare somebody, pick a better spot. From this height, the fall wouldn't kill me," Maroni smirked.

"I'm counting on it."

I whipped off my headset so I didn't have to hear the sickening crack that came when Maroni fell and snapped his leg in two on the pavement.

"Where is he?" Batman growled.

"I don't know where he is," Maroni gasped. "He found us."

"He must have friends."

"Friends? Have you met this guy?"

"Someone knows where he is!"

"Nobody's gonna tell you nothing. They're wise to your act. You got rules. The Joker, he's got no rules. Nobody's gonna cross him for you. If you want this guy, you got one way. But you already know what that is. Just take off that mask and let him come find you." Batman growled before Maroni continued, "Or you can let a couple more people get killed while you make up your mind."

"Bruce," I said over the headset. "You've got to get to Harvey. He took one of the Joker's henchmen, Thomas Schiff, from the procession today and is trying to get information from him." I gave him the address to find the two men. "I pulled up the records for the guy. Harvey's never going to get information out of him. He's a paranoid schizophrenic from Arkham. For all he knows, the Joker is just another voice in his head."

"Got it."

I anxiously waited for some indication that Bruce had found the men in the alley.

"You'd leave a man's life to chance?" I heard him rasp.

"Not exactly," Dent said.

"His name's Schiff, Thomas. He's a paranoid schizophrenic, former patient at Arkham. The kind of mind the Joker attracts. What do you expect to learn from him?"

"The Joker killed Gordon. He's going to kill Rachel." I closed my eyes, knowing he was right. Rachel was going to die. There was a chance I could change that, but how much would the story be affected if Harvey died and Rachel lived?

"You're the symbol of hope that I could never be. Your stand against organized crime is the first legitimate ray of light in Gotham for decades. If anyone saw this, everything would be undone. All the criminals you arrested would be released. And Jim Gordon will have died for nothing. You're going to hold a press conference. Tomorrow morning."

"Why?"

"No one else will die because of me. Gotham's in your hands now."

"You can't. You can't give in. You can't give in!" Harvey yelled.

But Batman was already on his way back to the lair. He was silent when he returned and didn't meet my eyes.

"You're really going to turn yourself in?" I said.

He nodded and finally looked at me. "It's for the best."

"Are you sure about that?" I could warn him that Harvey was going to take the fall for him, but that would just make everything too confusing when it came to the original plot.

"You told me not to give up my mask because I give the city hope. Well, now Harvey is the one who gives this city its hope. He can do all these things that Batman can't."

I took a deep breath. As much as I wanted to disagree, I knew his mind was made up. "Well, I'll support you with whatever you decide."

I think it was really refreshing for him to hear that. So far, all he had been told is why everyone disagreed with his decisions and reasons why he was wrong in everything he did. For once, someone was finally backing him up. He gently pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss in silent thanks.


	7. Press Conference

_"__Harvey called. He said Batman's going to turn himself in."_

_Bruce stood next to Rachel in his penthouse, the only place for her to stay safe. "I have no choice."_

_"__You honestly think that's going to keep the Joker from killing people?"_

_"__Maybe not," he admitted. "But I have enough blood on my hands. And I've seen now what I would have to become to stop men like him." Bruce looked at her. "You once told me that if the day came when I was finished, that we'd be together."_

_Rachel turned to him. "But you found someone else."_

_He didn't respond. Bruce had never really been the best at words, especially when it came to talking to or about someone he had feelings for._

_"__Bruce, you and Kris belong together. You're so much different when she's around. And…she accepts you. Both of you, I mean. That's something that I have trouble doing, but Kris…she understands why you do what you do and even helps you do it." She smiled. "She told me about your kiss. She really, really likes you. And you like her. I can tell."_

_Bruce thought about what Rachel was saying. It's true, he really did like Kris. She didn't care that he led a double life. She didn't care that he was a billionaire. She didn't care that in order to keep up his image, he had to bring models everywhere. She didn't care that he asked her to do so much stuff for him ever since she got back, and he had not done one thing for her in return._

_He thought about that kiss with Rachel a year ago. He had been shocked to realize that there he had not felt the way he had expected to. The kiss almost felt sort of…empty. And then there was that kiss with Kris which had made him feel like he didn't have a care in the world._

_"__Look…" Rachel stuttered. "There's something I have to tell you. I did say I would wait for you, and I meant it, but now that I see you with Kris, things have changed." She took a deep breath. "Harvey has asked me to marry him."_

_"__What?" Bruce asked incredulously. He had no idea they were that serious!_

_"__And…I'm going to say yes. Bruce, I love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I'll always be your friend, but…it's Kris who deserves your love."_

* * *

I wanted to tell Bruce that I loved him. But I was afraid to. What if I didn't really love him, but it was just those fangirl feelings? What if he didn't feel the same way? What if he was still stuck on Rachel? I had to wait for him to say it to me. But I couldn't wait forever. In the back of my mind, I knew that I was leaving at the end of the movie and then later going back for _The Dark Knight Rises_. But how long would I have to wait? I knew he would have to wait eight years before seeing me again. Such a long time…

Mr. Fox gave me the day off, saying that he had extra business to take care of alone. I didn't know what he meant, but it wasn't my business and I was grateful to catch up on some much needed sleep.

In the afternoon, Bruce, Alfred, and I all went down to the lair to close up shop…temporarily anyway. I helped Bruce pack up his gear and watched as he put away his Batarangs.

"I'm gonna miss this," I said, even though I knew it wasn't over.

"Are you sure about that?" Bruce asked. "Pulled away from work, staying up well into the night, taking dives out of planes, being pressured to find information fast?"

I gave him a small smile. "Well, maybe not all of it."

"Logs as well?" Alfred asked from the incinerator.

"Everything. Anything that could lead back to Lucius or Rachel or Kris." Alfred closed the incinerator door and looked at him. "People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?"

"Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman. He can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make. The right choice."

Bruce shook his head. "No, today I found out what Batman can't do. He can't endure this. Today you get to say 'I told you so'."

"Today, I don't want to."

Bruce took my hand and the three of us started walking out as the lights went out behind us.

"Although I did bloody tell you," Alfred said giving him a nudge. "I suppose they're gonna lock me up as well. As your accomplice."

"Accomplice? I'm going to tell them the whole thing was your idea." I laughed as we took the lift up. "Kris, Alfred's going to take you back to the penthouse. I don't want you at this conference. Once I tell everyone I'm Batman, they'll hound you like nothing else knowing that you've been living with me throughout all this."

I nodded in agreement. "I understand. I wish you didn't have to give this up. It was…pretty cool getting to be in on your whole secret operation." I put my hands on his chest and presented him with a warm kiss. "Good luck."

As soon as I got back, I ran to the TV where Rachel stood and tuned in to the conference, waiting with bated breath for what I knew was coming.

I watched as Harvey came onto the platform and addressed the crowd, explaining to them that Batman would turn himself in. There were a few hecklers and crazed reporters in the audience and I wanted to reach through the screen and shake them by the shoulders until they realized that Batman wasn't the person to blame.

Harvey really had a way with words. I couldn't help but admire the way he spoke about the whole situation so calmly.

And then it happened.

"I am the Batman."

Rachel gasped next to me as she continued watching with widened eyes. "What is he doing?" she mumbled. She left and I allowed her to have her moment to herself. No doubt she was in shock and was not happy with either of the men.

"Alfred," I heard. I walked to where the two of them were standing and joined their conversation. "Why is he letting Harvey do this?"

"He went down to the press conference."

"I know, and he just stood by!"

"Perhaps both Bruce and Mr. Dent believe that Batman stands for something more important than the whims of a terrorist, Miss Dawes, even if everyone hates him for it. That's the sacrifice he's making. He's not being a hero. He's being something more."

"Yeah, you're absolutely right. Letting Harvey take the fall for this is not heroic at all."

I had always hated Rachel for this conversation and now I finally was able to say something. "Rachel," I said, trying to keep my temper in check. "What if the roles were reversed? What if it was Bruce taking the fall for Harvey? How would you feel then?"

Rachel looked at me and tried to find words. I think I had caught her off-guard. "I…"

"You would be happy that your boyfriend, and if I'm not mistaken, future fiancé is safe, while I would be over here worried about what was going to happen to Bruce. But all the same, I would admire him for doing what he believed to be right. I think I know why Harvey did this and why Bruce didn't say anything. Now that the Joker believes he knows who the Batman is, he's going to come after him and that will give Batman the opportunity to take him down."

Rachel sighed. I knew she refused to admit it, but she knew I was right. "I have to go," she finally said. "He needs me." She hugged Alfred tightly and then hugged me. "Good-bye, Alfred. Good-bye, Kris."

"Bye, Rachel," we both said.

Wait a second, wasn't she supposed to give Alfred a letter about how she was going to marry Harvey? Perhaps with me here, she had already told him? That just seemed wrong. All I knew is that there was no letter which meant she had to have already told him her plans. That kind of weirded me out, and I wondered how it would change the story.

Alfred and I watched her go. Tonight was not going to go as planned for anyone.


	8. Rachel

Bruce never returned to the penthouse. I had a pretty good idea where he was. Sure enough, he was down in the lair that we had just spent all afternoon clearing out. He was standing in front of the Batsuit with his hands shoved into his pockets.

"Hey," I said quietly as I walked up to him and stood next to him. "I, uh, I saw what happened at the press conference."

"This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Life will never go as we planned. I mean, take a look at you. Did you ever believe that you would one day be dressing up like a giant bat and protecting the city from crime? Or that you would one day meet someone who you had feelings for who wasn't named Rachel?"

He looked at me and took my hand in his. "I need to go after him. This could be my one chance to get the Joker."

I nodded. "I'll be here just like before." I kissed him long and hard, just to let him know that I was there for him. He needed that before he faced the events that would transpire in a few hours.

He suited up and took off. It was going to be a long night for the both of us.

Luckily for me, the computers were still in the lair. I took a seat, prepared to do whatever he needed. Through the headset, I heard various crashes and explosions. It amazed me how worried I could be when I knew the outcome of the entire night.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine," was all I got back. There was another noise and I knew that the Tumbler had blown up and Bruce was off on the Batpod. I hacked into the street cameras again to see if I could manage to find out where he was in the fight. Only being able to hear this was driving me nuts. Eventually, I was able to pull up a few different camera angles, but only a couple of them provided me with any intel. Luckily for me, I managed to hack into the street camera that showed me the overturned truck and the Joker climbing out. I heard Bruce let out a scream and then I watched as he rammed into the truck and fell off the Batpod onto the ground. He was unconscious.

"Bruce?" I said urgently.

One of the Joker's thugs went to get his mask, but it electrified him at the touch and he fell back. The Joker kicked him in the gut and laughed at him, then leaned over Batman with his knife.

I smiled as a man aimed his gun at the back of the Joker's head. He growled. "Could you please just give me a minute?"

But the man, none other than Jim Gordon, took him down.

"Bruce," I said quietly through the headset. "Get up."

Eventually, he stirred and before I knew it, a ton of reporters were asking Harvey questions and then leading him away in a police car…where he would be taken to a factory and tied up and left to die…

"Kris," I heard. "I'm okay."

"Oh, thank goodness. They took the Joker to the station. Gordon wants you there to help interrogate him."

"I know. I'm going there now. Stay on with me. You should probably hear this."

I didn't want to hear it. I knew how the conversation was going to go. Harvey and Rachel were in the process of being kidnapped right now and I was powerless to help them.

After a good bit of time, I heard the Joker say, "Evening…Commissioner."

"Harvey Dent never made it home," Gordon said.

"Of course not."

"What have you done with him?"

"Me? I was right here. Who did you leave him with? Hmm? Your people? Assuming, of course, that they are still your people and not Maroni's. Does it depress you, Commissioner, to know just how alone you really are? Does it make you feel responsible for Harvey Dent's current predicament?"

"Where is he?"

"What's the time?"

"What difference does that make?"

"Well, depending on the time, he may be in one spot or several."

"If we're going to play games, I'm going to need a cup of coffee."

"Ah, the 'good cop, bad cop' routine?"

"Not exactly."

There was a pause before I heard a loud crack, and I knew the lights had come on and Batman had slammed the Joker's head on the table.

The Joker groaned. "Never start with the head. The victim gets all fuzzy. He can't feel the next—" There was another crack as his fist crunched his knuckles. "See?"

"You wanted me. Here I am," Batman growled.

"I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint. You let five people die. Then you let Dent take your place. Even to a guy like me, that's cold."

"Don't listen to him," I said over the headset. "He's trying to get to you. You can't let him."

"Where's Dent?" he continued.

"Those mob fools want you gone so they can get back to the way things were. But I know the truth. There's no going back. You've changed things. Forever."

"Then why do you want to kill me?"

The Joker started laughing in a way that made a chill run up my spine. Funny how I always used to fangirl over his laugh…

"I don't—I don't wanna kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, no. No, you…you complete me."

"You're garbage who kills for money."

"Don't talk like one of them. You're not, even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak like me. They need you right now. But when they don't, they'll cast you out like a leper. You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these…civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."

There was a loud noise and I guess that Batman had grabbed the Joker from his seat and pulled him close to him.

"Don't let him get to you," I ordered firmly.

"Where's Dent?"

"You have these rules," the Joker taunted. "And you think they'll save you."

There was another slam before I heard, "I have one rule." If I hadn't been so caught up in the moment, not to mention freaking out about Harvey and Rachel, I would've fangirled so hard at that line.

"Oh, then that's the rule you'll have to break to know the truth."

"Which is?"

"The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. And tonight, you're going to break your one rule."

"I'm considering it."

"Do not let him get the better of you," I told him. I was pretty sure he was ignoring me by now, but I couldn't help myself. I had to help him through this. He was on the verge of breaking and after what was about to happen, it was just going to get worse.

"There's only minutes left. So, you'll have to play my little game if you want to save one of them."

"Them?"

"I never really believed you were Dent. Not after I saw the way you threw yourself after Wayne's girl. But even so...it's still apparent that you got a soft spot for Dent's sweetie…"

Now I had to tell myself not to let him get to me. I guess I always knew that Bruce would have feelings for Rachel. It's just that actually hearing that made it more real.

I heard him slam the Joker on the table which resulted in the Joker just laughing hysterically. "Look at you go! Does Harvey know about you and his little bunny?"

Nope, I was not going to let him get to me. Oh jeez, this was ridiculous. I was letting the Joker of all people make me feel jealous about Bruce's feelings for Rachel. No wonder I had never told him I loved him.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" Batman roared. There was another moment I would've fangirled at…

"Killing is making a choice."

"WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"Choose between one life or the other. Your friend, the district attorney. Or his blushing bride-to-be." There was the sound of a punch landing and the Joker continued to laugh even harder. "You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength. Don't worry, I'm going to tell you where they are. Both of them, and that's the point. You'll have to choose. He's at 250 52nd Street. And she's on Avenue X at Cicero."

"Which one are you going after?" I heard Gordon ask.

"Rachel!"

It was time for my decision. Did I warn him that the Joker switched the locations or just let it play out like it was supposed to? I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together. When I had spent all my time wishing to come back, I never thought about being faced with choices like this one. I tried to run through my mind what would happen if Rachel was saved and not Harvey. Harvey was going to go berserk and turn into Two-Face, but I knew Rachel wouldn't lose it. At least, not as much as he did anyway. He was going to kill people when he got out and threaten Gordon's family. You know what, I could live with taking away one of Gotham's villains. Unless Rachel ended up turning into Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn or something, but that was unlikely. I made my decision.

"Listen to me," I said through the headset. "This is important."

"Not now," Batman growled.

Oh, great, so the one time I actually need to tell him something vital, he's passing me off? "No, you don't understand—"

"I said not now. I need to get to Rachel."

"That's just it! The Joker—" There was a sickening click and then silence. He had turned off his earpiece. I whipped my headset off and screamed in frustration. I was furious at him for not listening to me. What was the point of me doing all this if he was just going to turn me off when I needed to get information across to him?

I pulled up the cameras for the street addresses the Joker had given him and watched in horror at the two buildings. I saw Batman pull up to one of them…and come out with Harvey. And then the other building, the one that contained Rachel, exploded. I slammed the laptop shut and felt tears come to my eyes. Alone in the lair with no one but me and the technology I used to allegedly help Batman, I was crying.

I honestly never expected to feel so horrible. But watching that explosion for real, knowing that someone I had spent time with was in the middle of it, I lost it. And I am not the crying kind of person, which I made clear when Bruce made me talk about my dad. Yet here I was, crying all the same.

I stayed in the lair for another hour or two until dawn approached and the sky began to lighten.

When I returned to the penthouse, Bruce was sitting alone in his chair facing the window. I didn't have it in my usual self to fangirl about how he had his cowl off. All those times watching this movie to prepare myself, and here I was feeling more ill-prepared than ever. I didn't even want to think about _The Dark Knight Rises_.

I slowly went up to him and sat on the floor next to his chair and gripped his hand tightly in both of mine. Neither of us said a word to the other.

Alfred came in with a tray for the both of us and set it down. I met eyes with him and he looked at me sadly. "Prepared a little breakfast," he said. When Bruce didn't answer, he began to walk away. "Very well, then."

"Alfred?" Bruce called softly, barely audible.

"Yes, Master Wayne?"

"Did I bring this on her? I was meant to inspire good, not madness, not death."

"You have inspired good. But you spat in the face of Gotham's criminals. Didn't you think there might be some casualties? Things are always going to get worse before they get better."

"But Rachel, Alfred…"

"Rachel believed in what you stood for. What we stand for." He picked up his cowl and put it in his lap. "Gotham needs you."

"No, Gotham needs its true hero. And I let that murdering psychopath blow him half to death…"

"Which is why for now, they're gonna have to make do with you."

"She was going to wait for me, Alfred. But then…" He didn't finish and he didn't need to. It was because I came along. "That bandit, in the forest in Burma, did you catch him?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"We burned the forest down."

Alfred left the two of us alone again. Without looking at me, he asked, "You knew, didn't you?"

I slowly nodded my head.

"And you tried to tell me, and then I…"

"Bruce," I said softly. "How can you expect me to help you all the time if you won't listen to me when it really matters?"

He said nothing to me but just continued to stare out the window.

"I wish that I could've done something more. We both tried our best. Listen, I know you had feelings for her, so I'm fully aware that this can't be easy, and I'm sorry. She was my friend too. And I'm going to miss her just as much."

I stood up to leave when he still didn't say anything. Before I could walk away, I felt his hand on my arm and turned to find him standing up. He must've noticed that I was looking really frazzled from my earlier cry-fest. He pulled me closer to him and enveloped me in a tight hug. I never thought I would do it again but I did. Just like when I cried for my dad, I began crying onto his shoulder all over again.

Bruce was changing me. He was opening me up. I barely cried when my dad died and here I was practically sobbing over Rachel, someone I hadn't even conversed with nearly as much.

I could just barely feel his own body shake every now and again, trying to keep in silent cries.


	9. Saving Reese

**Happy Easter everyone! Praise Jesus that He has risen! :D**

* * *

In the afternoon after both of us were able to get some sleep, the aura in the penthouse hadn't changed at all. I came down to find Bruce and Alfred watching a news report…where Reese allegedly held the identity of Batman. I really, really disliked him…

"I wanna how much they're gonna pay you to say who Batman really is," a caller in the background said.

"That's simply not why I'm doing this," Reese answered calmly.

"Let's take the next caller," the announcer said as he pushed another button.

"Harvey Dent didn't want to give in to this maniac," the second caller said angrily. "You think you know better than him?"

"I think if we could talk to Dent today, he may feel differently."

"And we wish him a speedy recovery," the announcer said to the camera. "God knows we need him now. Let's take another call." Eerie laughter sounded on the phone line. "Who is this?"

"I had a vision," the Joker's sickening voice said over the phone line. "Of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit and the police tried to shut them down, one block at a time, and it was so…boring. I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, but why should I have all the fun? Let's give someone else a chance. If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital."

I put my hand to my mouth as I watched Reese's eyes go wider and wider. "No," I said softly. "No more death."

Bruce got up and headed for the elevator. "Kris, I need you over the headset, checking Gordon's men and their families."

"What for?" As if I didn't already know.

"Hospital admissions."

"You got it."

"And Kris? I promise I'll listen this time."

I smiled and nodded at him and prepared to leave.

"Will you be wanting the Batpod, sir?" Alfred asked.

"In the middle of the day, Alfred? Not very subtle."

"The Lamborghini then. Much more subtle."

I smiled again as Alfred drove me down to the lair. On the way, I knew I had to ask him to do something for me.

"Alfred," I said. "Can you do me a huge favor?"

"What is it?"

I showed him a letter I had written for Bruce that morning. In it contained everything about me. I explained to him who I really was and that I was not from this world. I told him that after today, he would not see me again for another eight years. Then when he did see me, it would only be for a little while, and then I was going to leave…and I would not be able to come back. I could never tell him all of that in person. So I just wrote it all down on a piece of paper.

"I need you to give him this when the time is right. It's the explanation about everything that Bruce deserves to know. I just…I can't tell him in person. Especially since…I'm leaving tonight."

"You're going away again?" he asked astounded.

"Believe me, Alfred, I don't want to, but it's not my choice, just like before. Just…give that to him sometime in the next couple of days. Hopefully, he'll understand."

We pulled up to the special shipping container and I hurriedly sat down in front of the computers and put on my headset. Then I hacked into the Gotham Police files and waited for Bruce to give me a list of names. In the heat of the moment, I completely forgot whose relative was in the hospital, which irritated me as I could not give him advance warning.

"I see O'Brien and Richards," Bruce said to me.

I quickly typed in the names and looked up their family histories and current health situations. "Nothing," I told him. "No relatives in any hospital. Give me someone else."

After a bit more time, he said, "I saw Burns and Zachary."

I pulled up their information as well, but there was still nothing. "Nothing on them either."

"And a patrolman I don't know."

I scanned through the list of names as fast as I could until one finally registered. Berg Ramirez! I mentally slapped myself for forgetting that name. "It's a Berg Ramirez," I told Bruce as I pulled up his file. "His wife is in the hospital fighting cancer."

"Send the information to Gordon."

"I'm on it." I sent out a message to Gordon's phone, through the computer so it wouldn't trace to any of us, about how Berg had the woman he loved more than anything at the risk of being blown up. Of course, I sent a much shorter message than all of that.

I may have hated Reese, but I was done with death for a long time. I knew Bruce would get to him in time. I just wished he didn't have to get into a car accident to do it.

I listened in agonizing anticipation until I heard the crunch of steel and glass and I knew he had been hit. "Bruce?" I called. "Please tell me you're okay!"

"I'm okay, Kris," he said calmly through his earpiece. "I promise nothing's broken. Not even a scratch."

"And Reese?"

"He's fine."

I heard the sound of sirens and paramedics as they hurried to the crash site.

"That's Mr. Wayne, isn't it?" I heard Gordon say.

"Yeah," Bruce mumbled.

"That was a very brave thing you did."

"Trying to catch the light?"

"You weren't protecting the van?"

"Why? Who's in it?" There was another pause, and I knew Reese was looking at him and probably feeling guilty for almost giving him up. Serves him right. "Do you think I should go to the hospital?"

"You don't watch a whole lot of news, do you, Mr. Wayne?"

I knew that it was probably the wrong time to do so, but I removed my headset and just laughed. Hearing that was so much funnier in person and it was nice to have some comic relief after everything that had happened. I just loved how clueless Bruce acted about all the good things he's done since day one.

My happiness lasted for about five seconds before I heard an explosion come through the headset, even without it on. Gotham General had gone up in flames. At least I was positive no one had been inside.

A news report suddenly came up on one of the computers. I looked on in horror as the newscaster that interviewed Reese came up on screen, beaten and bloodied. He nervously read sheets of paper in front of him with the Joker mumbling behind the camera. I watched the screen intently as the Joker turned the camera and revealed himself as he laughed again.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I screamed and whipped around. It was Bruce. "Sorry," he said with a smile. It was good to see him smile again.

I put my hand to my chest, my heart racing. "That's the second time you've done this since I've been back."

"Listen, I need you to go to Mr. Fox. I need his help with finding the Joker. I've got a plan to finally catch this psycho. I'm going to use that sonar thing he showed us when we were in Hong Kong."

I nodded and he began to suit up again. I headed over to Wayne Enterprises and went up to Mr. Fox's office.

"Mr. Fox?" I said as I opened the door.

"Kris!" he exclaimed, standing up. To my surprise, he came over and hugged me. Even though he was my boss, I didn't feel uncomfortable in any way. "I'm so sorry about Rachel. How are you and Mr. Wayne holding up?"

"We're just trying to get through the days ahead. Actually, that's why I came here. A, uh, mutual friend of ours has requested your presence down in the R and D department. Let me just warn you right now that you may not like what you see, but it's the only way to bring the Joker down."

The two of us walked down and he was met with 384 screens (yes, I did count them when I watched the movie for the umpteenth time at home) all displaying the sonar Fox had created at a different location.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Batman rasped as he appeared in a gap behind the screens.

"Beautiful," Mr. Fox remarked. "Unethical. Dangerous. You've turned every cell phone in Gotham into a microphone."

"And a high frequency generator-receiver." Batman came around the screens to face us.

"You took my sonar concept and applied it to every phone in the city. With half the city feeding you sonar, you can image all of Gotham. This is wrong."

"Told you you wouldn't like it," I mumbled.

"I've got to find this man, Lucius."

"At what cost?"

"The database is null-key encrypted. It can only be accessed by one person."

"This is too much power for one person."

"That's why I gave it to you. Only you can use it."

"Spying on thirty million people isn't part of my job description," Mr. Fox said hardly.

Batman pushed a button on the panel and the Joker's voice from his last "newscast" came out across a few of the speakers. "This is an audio sample. If he talks within range of any phone in the city, you can triangulate his position."

"I'll help you this one time, but consider this my resignation. As long as this machine is at Wayne Enterprises, I won't be."

"When you're finished, type in your name."

"Wait!" I called as he walked away. I knew I wasn't going to see him again after this time. I was leaving right after his showdown with Harvey, and he wouldn't be back in time to see me off. That was why I gave Alfred the letter. Not only could I not tell him in person, I just didn't have the time to. I took his cowl in my hands and pressed my lips to his in a firm kiss. "Be careful. Please."

"I will."

I kissed him again even longer, making the moment last.


	10. The Joker Wins

**And here is the final chapter of Part 2!**

* * *

I had no idea how long it would be until I saw him again. When I finally broke away from him, I sadly watched him go. First, he lost Rachel, then he was going to lose me. At least the letter explained everything. Because that went so well with Rachel…Oh, shoot, what if Alfred ended up burning my own letter?

You know, maybe I should've told him in person…Well, no time for that now.

He walked away as Mr. Fox took off his jacket and began to get to work. I pulled out my laptop and headset and prepared to help him.

In order for both of us to hear him, I put what came through the headset onto a speaker.

Mr. Fox worked with all the screens while I pulled up several things on my laptop and listened for Bruce's voice.

"Kris," I finally heard him say after what must've been at least an hour. "There's something going on with the ferries."

I pulled up some street cameras, but nothing gave me enough view to see the ferries. In the long run, I guess I didn't really need the visuals.

Suddenly, the Joker's voice came out across our speakers. And now came the ferry test…

I stood up and walked beside Mr. Fox as he began to try to zero in on where the Joker was. "His voice is on the ferry, but it's not the source," he muttered. The signal went across several screens before we finally got something.

"He's west!" I said eagerly.

"I'm calling Gordon," his gravelly voice came through my headset. I tuned out his half of the conversation with the Commissioner and listened to what the Joker was saying. It was so scary to hear him giving everyone the rules to his little game.

My index finger rubbed my bottom lip like I usually did when I was really into something and/or concentrating really hard.

"It's not that simple," Batman's voice said. "With the Joker, it never is."

"What's simple," I heard Gordon say angrily, "is that every second we don't take him, those people on the ferries get closer to blowing each other up!"

"That won't happen."

"Then he'll blow both of them up!"

"I need five minutes alone."

"No! There's no time! We have clear shots! Dent's in there with them! We have to save Dent! I have to save Dent!"

I knew he had already dived off the roof and was soaring over to the building. I wanted so direly to know what it was like for him to fly over the city like that. It had to have been amazing.

Oh, what am I doing? Wrong place, wrong time!

"Kris, I need picture," Batman said.

Mr. Fox quickly hit some keys beneath the screens and sent the images to his mask. "Okay," he said. "You got POV on alpha, omni on beta." We both explained to him where exactly the people were…but I knew that Mr. Fox had it wrong.

"Listen to me," I said much more firmly than I had before. As soon as I said those words, I knew he was all ears. The last time he had ignored me when I said that, Rachel died. "The doctors in that building are the Joker's henchmen and those with clown masks are the hostages. The SWAT team is targeting the wrong group of people!"

I faintly heard the sound of a mask being whipped off and he knew I was right. Of course I was. I couldn't be wrong when I was here. I listened to numerous sounds of exertion from him and other parties and the crash of lots of windows breaking. I looked over at Fox with worry etched on my face, even though I knew how this was going to pan out. He reassuringly took my hand and gave me a comforting smile. Right then, I knew that this man was way more than a boss to me. He continued to give Batman instructions using the sonar.

When I heard various SWAT team screams, I couldn't help but smile as I pictured them hanging off the side of the building. They were nothing when up against Batman.

"Kris," I heard Batman say over the speaker. His voice was calm and collected and reassuring though still raspy. "Everything's going to be okay."

"I know," I said back to him.

"Ah, you made it," I heard the Joker's voice say to Batman. "I'm so thrilled!"

"Where's the detonator?" Batman growled.

"Go get him!" Dogs started barking and I could hear Bruce groaning in pain as they really went at him. There were more shouts of pain as the Joker hit him. I put my hands to my head, not able to withstand hearing him like that. It was strange how much different everything was when it was very real to me. Hearing him like that was awful. Mr. Fox noticed me really having a hard time listening to that because he put his hand on my shoulder and gave a small squeeze.

The screens went nuts and then all of a sudden the Joker appeared and nailed Bruce. That certainly didn't help the state I was in. I think I was close to having another panic attack.

I distracted myself from the horrendous noises by finding out exactly where Dent was holding Gordon's family. But I couldn't focus with the sound of Bruce's pain. It was almost like I was getting hit with him.

It was where Rachel had been taken. So where was that? Gah, I couldn't remember when my mind was going crazy!

So I did something that was completely and utterly cheating. I went on my laptop and pulled up the script for _The Dark Knight_. Scanning quickly through it, I managed to find the line in the interrogation room where the Joker gives him the addresses. I switched them up and wrote down the one where he had said Dent was when it was really Rachel: 250 52nd Street.

"If we don't stop fighting, we're going to miss the fireworks!" the Joker said tauntingly. I knew he was leaning over Bruce, choking him, but if I could just hold on, one of my favorite lines was coming up. Funny how throughout all of this, I was still fangirling inside.

"There won't be any fireworks," Batman growled, his oxygen supply cut off.

"And here…we…go!" Midnight hit, and much to the Joker's disappointment, nothing happened.

"What were you trying to prove? That deep down, we're all as ugly as you? You're alone."

"Can't rely on anyone these days. You gotta do everything yourself, don't we? That's okay, I came prepared. It's a funny world we live in. Speaking of which, you know how I got these scars?"

"No. But I know how you get these!"

I smiled broadly as he spoke the best line in _The Dark Knight_ and I heard the sound of his gauntlet going off and a laugh that send a shiver down my spine.

Then there was a groan and I knew that Bruce had caught him with one of his tools. Trying to get him the information as quickly as I could, I took the headset away from the speakers and put it on my head as I exited the room.

"Listen, there's a problem. Dent's grabbed Gordon's family. He's at the address where Rachel died: 250 52nd Street. Get there as soon as you can—"

My speech was cut off as someone grabbed me from behind and clamped his hand firmly over my mouth. My headset got knocked to the floor in the process. Struggling ended up being absolutely pointless, especially when another man appeared to help the first one. I could not believe what was happening. After all that had happened, I was being kidnapped.

* * *

_"__You just couldn't let me go, could you?" the Joker laughed as Batman pulled him back up. "This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? Huh? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever."_

_"__You'll be in a padded cell forever," Batman rasped._

_"__Maybe we can share one. You know, they'll be doubling up, the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds."_

_"__This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good."_

_"__Until their spirit breaks completely. Until they get a good look at the real Harvey Dent, and all the heroic things he's done. You didn't think I'd risk losing the battle for Gotham's soul in a fist fight with you? No. You need an ace in the hole. Mine's Harvey."_

_Now it made sense what Kris had been saying about Dent going after Gordon's family. She was being oddly silent now though. Usually when he was having these kinds of conversations, she was there to offer some kind of order to stay calm or words of comfort for him. Had this all been a bit too much on her?_

_"__What do you mean?"_

_"__I took Gotham's White Knight, and I brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. See, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push. And I'm going to bring down its Dark Knight as well. Because you have another choice to make. And this one will break you just as much if not completely. You see, I know about that girl helping you. What is it? Kristina? Oh, no, she likes to be called Kris, doesn't she?"_

_No. No, no, no, no, this could not be happening. Losing Rachel was bad enough. It would kill him to lose Kris too. "What have you done with her?"_

_"__I believe Mr. Dent is in the process of doing some…not so great things. Things that involve Gordon's lovely family. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what going on. Isn't that what your lady friend said to you? Well, you can either go save the girl, or go save Gordon and his family. As for the girl, don't worry, she won't explode. I've specifically ordered for her not to be killed. But there's no telling what they will have done to her by the time you get there."_

_Bruce's body had gone numb. Even when he caught the Joker, he still lost. The last time he had faced this kind of choice, he had chosen the woman he loved, and as a result, the Joker won. This time, he knew that he had to give priority to Dent and not go after Kris. She was tough, so he prayed that she could withstand whatever was happening to her until her got there._

* * *

Well, I certainly had not seen this one coming. Mr. Fox and Bruce had to have known that I was gone by now. I just hoped that Bruce went after Harvey and not me. It wouldn't be worth it. No matter what the Joker's men did to me, I would be leaving this world in an hour or so. If he came after me, there was no telling what Harvey would do to Gordon's family.

While it didn't matter that I was here, I knew I had to get out. I had to make sure Bruce knew I was okay before I disappeared. I couldn't have him thinking I was kidnapped for the next eight years. He'd kill himself looking for me. If I could just let him know that I was okay, he could get through the next stretch of time before he saw me again.

I looked around me and tried to plan a means of escaping. I was in a small room, but I had no idea where. I had been blindfolded on the way here. From the looks of it, I was in some kind of…factory maybe? The men had just thrown me in here without tying me up or anything. I knew they were taking orders from the Joker, so I was trying to think of what he possibly had in mind for me. What could he even do? He had been caught and was being sent to Arkham right now.

If I got through the door, the men would easily recapture me. I would have to trick them or something so I could get past them. The problem was I had no idea how many were in this building with me, if any that is. Was I going to be blown up like Rachel? This was all really confusing. I didn't like not knowing what was supposed to happen.

I began scanning the walls to see if there were any holes or cracks that I could attempt to escape through.

None of my plan ended up being put into action because before I knew it, I felt the familiar pull that signaled my time was up.

"No," I said quietly. I couldn't leave yet! Not without telling Bruce I was okay! "No, no, no, no, NO!"

* * *

The next thing I knew, I was being thrown into my apartment. I took one look around me and screamed in frustration. I hadn't been ready to leave! And now I wouldn't be back for who knows how long?

The DVD case rested beside me, the DVD inside no longer glowing. I picked it up and threw it against the wall. The DVD popped out of the case and there was a small dent on the wall where the case had hit. I held my head in my hands and squeezed my eyes tightly shut, trying to hold on to every memory of Bruce that I could possibly find, from the touch of his hands on my waist to the feel of his lips on mine. I held onto those feelings and refused to let them leave me.

I had no idea how long it would be before I went back to Gotham for _The Dark Knight Rises_, nor did I know how my presence would affect the people I had come in contact with. I just knew one thing. I already missed Bruce more than I ever thought I would…and I had this gut feeling that the same went for him.

* * *

**Well, I can only imagine how many people I have upset by ending the story like this. Please don't hurt me. Part 3 will be uploaded in three days, so keep a look-out for it!  
**


End file.
